Matusz on his outing and excitement for the seasons

Orioles pitcher Brian Matusz was pleased with his first spring outing on Thursday, a two-inning scoreless start against the Minnesota Twins. Matusz said he threw all of his pitches in the 35-pitch outing (20 of which were strikes) and was upbeat with the media afterwards.

“Honestly, I felt good,” Matusz said of the outing. “I was warming up in the bullpen and was telling [catcher Matt] Wieters, ‘Wow, I feel really calm and relaxed.’ I wanted to go out there and not try to overdo it. I wanted to go out and attack the zone like I did last spring. That was my goal.

And when I got out there, I felt good. I felt like I had all my stuff warming up. I got a little antsy, I got a little jumpy with some of my breaking pitches, where I wasn’t taking my time. I was kind of rushing through it and not hitting my spots, but I was able to settle myself down. I got a couple three-ball counts, which I’d love to avoid, but I was able to make some good pitches when I needed to. And the best part about it is I feel healthy, I feel strong, and having this outing makes me even more excited about getting out there the next time.”

[on finally pitching in a game]

“It was a good feeling standing out there on the mound and looking at who was out there on the field. Seeing B-Rob healthy and seeing [Mark] Reynolds there at third and J.J. [Hardy] at short, and I’m excited to get [Derrek] Lee out there to play first base. Just seeing those guys got me pumped up, excited.

It’s just going to be a fun year, and I can’t even put into words how excited I am about this season and the guys that we have. It’s a nice stepping on that mound and seeing those seven guys behind you and Wieters behind the plate.”

[on his velocity, which was around 90-91 mph according to the stadium’s gun]: “It sounds great to me. First time out there, it felt good. That’s where I want to be. I wasn’t trying to overthrow or anything. I’m happy with where I’m at strength-wise.”

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